A local lawmaker is proposing new legislation in Harrisburg to improve school safety. State Rep. Jason Ortitay's legislation calls for the creation of special threat assessment teams at every school district. WPXI, July 18, 2018Full Story

While the PIAA has proposed remedies via rule changes to toughen transfer guidance (which could be approved as soon as Wednesday at its bimonthly board meeting also in State College), many in the public sphere believe them to be ineffective half-measures.Delaware County Daily Times, July 17, 2018Full Story

With Pennsylvania licensing fewer and fewer teachers, the state recently announced it will send $2 million in federal aid to eight colleges and universities in hopes of boosting their teacher prep pipelines. WITF, July 17, 2018Full Story

Principals and districts benefit when principal supervisors move beyond the role of administrator to coach and mentor, according to a new report. It is the first of three studies of The Wallace Foundation's Principal Supervisor Initiative, a four-year, $24 million effort studied by Mathematica Policy Research and Vanderbilt University. The report, "A New Role Emerges for Principal Supervisors: Evidence from Six Districts in the Principal Supervisor Initiative," details the implementation of five key components to reshape the supervisor position in six large, urban school districts. Each district changed the job descriptions and restructured central offices so that principal supervisors could step away from operational, administrative and compliance tasks to coach, mentor and advise principals to be more effective as instructional leaders.

The PIAA “can and must” create a postseason system that separates traditional public schools from private, parochial and charter schools, says a group of public school administrators scheduled to meet July 24 in State College.Click here for full article. Source: Tribune-Review, July 15, 2018.

School officials in the counties in and around Philadelphia blame a perennial matrix of issues, including pensions, contractual and special-education costs, and assorted state and federal mandates for the fact that more than 50 school districts have levied higher tax rates by an average of $100 effective July 1 — and an average of $100 annually for the last 10 years.Click here for full article. Source: The Philadelphia Inquirer, July 11, 2018.(Subscription may be required.)

The Supporting Grandparents Raising Grandchildren Act, signed last week into law by President Donald Trump, calls for establishing an advisory committee made up of federal agencies to map out available resources for grandparents raising their grandchildren, increasingly due to the opioid epidemic.Click here for full article. Source: WHYY, July 12, 2018.

Gov. Tom Wolf clarified Thursday that he has no intention of seeking imminent cuts from so-called “overpaid” and shrinking school districts to compensate underpaid, growing ones — despite outcry earlier in the day from gubernatorial candidate Scott Wagner that Wolf backs a proposal that would “decimate” Western Pennsylvania’s smallest schools.Click here for full article. Source: Tribune Review, July 12, 2018.

Governor Tom Wolf today announced the Pennsylvania Department of Education has awarded approximately $2 million in grants to eight universities to develop and implement year-long residency programs for teachers and principals, a critical element in his commitment to increasing and retaining the number of qualified instructors and school leaders serving the Commonwealth’s public schools.Click here for full article.